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Click here to access an online registration form for The Center for Rural Development’s training session in Somerset.

To register for the Hazard training session, call the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky at 606-439-1357 or email ethan@appalachianky.org.


Attorneys and accountants in Southern and Eastern Kentucky will have an exclusive opportunity to gain expert guidance on encouraging their clients to consider charitable giving at one of two free regional training seminars held in June in Somerset and Hazard.

The Appalachian Rural Development Philanthropy Initiative (ARDPI) is inviting professional advisors to attend a seminar on charitable giving to learn more about how communities across the region can utilize charitable endowments to capture local wealth and invest it in life-changing endeavors.

Allison Peck Lankford, J.D., vice president and general counsel at Blue Grass Community Foundation, will lead a session on “Charitable Giving in Kentucky 2012: Tools and Opportunities to Further Your Clients’ Giving & Tax Goals” Thursday, June 21, at the Rural Law Enforcement Technology Center Facility, 101 Bulldog Lane, in Hazard, and Friday, June 22, at The Center for Rural Development, located on U.S. 27 (at Traffic Light 15) in Somerset.

Registration for the Hazard training session is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. followed by the program from 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m. A free complimentary light breakfast will be available at the time of registration.

The Somerset training session is set to begin with registration at 9:30 a.m. with the program to follow from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at The Center for Rural Development. A $10 box lunch is optional and will be available upon request.

There is no charge to attend either training session. Through participation in the Somerset session, attorneys can earn 3.25 hours of Continuing Law Education (CLE) credit, including one hour of Ethics for Kentucky, and accountants can earn 3.25 hours of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credit.

Attendance at the shorter Hazard session will result in 2.75 hours of either CLE or CPE credit.

During the sessions, Lankford—who works directly with donors and their advisors to help them develop customized philanthropic plans to meet their charitable giving wishes—will share her expert knowledge on charitable giving and planning and answer your questions on helping your clients meet their own financial and charitable goals.

As part of the session, she will explain the groundbreaking “Kentucky Transfer of Wealth Study,” which illustrates the importance of community foundations and charitable endowments. The study concludes that a reinvestment of just 5 percent of the $707 billion set to transfer from Kentuckians to the next generation over the next 50 years could have a significant, long-lasting impact on economic development and quality of life.

The new Appalachian Rural Development Philanthropy Initiative (ARDPI) aims to push toward that goal by building and expanding permanent charitable endowments and organize philanthropic infrastructures in an initial group of eight pilot Eastern Kentucky counties. These efforts will work to stop the outmigration of the region’s wealth and secure local assets to provide long-term resources for these communities.

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is working with seven Kentucky-based partners to move ARDPI forward, including: The Center for Rural Development, Brushy Fork Institute, the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, the Foundation for the Tri-State Community, Inc., Blue Grass Community Foundation, Kentucky Philanthropy Initiative, and the Endow Kentucky Commission.

Two of the partners—The Center in Somerset and Brushy Fork Institute in Berea—will provide overall strategic planning, training, education and promotion for the initiative.